Despite a lifetime of waiting we don't yet have our flying cars, our rayguns, our space holidays, nor even our robot/brainchipped-monkey butlers. However, from August - if the manufacturers are to be believed - ordinary consumers will finally be able to buy a (marginally) useful jetpack, for just $100,000.
The "Thunderpack™", …

The masses ?

I need one

I will be hopping along now.

"According to Amarena, such a vehicle coul be used for a host of defense, commercial, and personal purposes, including support of military missions, disaster relief efforts, border patrol assignments, and even OVERCOMING THOSE SNAIL-PACED COMMUTES."

R2-G2?

I'm surprised George Lucas isn't up in arms about that (I do believe copyright law covers things with names intentionally close to copyrighted brands, such as Tommy Highfiver or Microsuft) - then again, they could be trying to lure in the massive Star Wars fanbase as a potential market.

Ancient tech strikes again.

And another British success story of the 1950s gets exploited by the Americans.

(Hydrogen peroxide and kerosene was at the heart of British rocketry, and even launched the only all-British satellite from Woomera.}

Although the reports I've seen suggest that there is a slight problem in the US market: you can't get hydrogen peroxide in less than a truckload. Which invokes all sorts of hassles in the regulations on storage. And it was usual for the British workers to work in pairs, one with a running hosepipe to put they other out when the hydrogen peroxide started a fire.

Can you imagine the paperwork over that, if it happened today?

And besides, it's just a fancy steam engine. (Hot steam, flames, what other icopn could I use?)

3/4 of a mile in 75 seconds?

So what happens when I get to work?

Will I have to take a bath in cologne to cover up the scent of hydrogen peroxide and kerosene once I get to work? and would my daily commute be like a real life game of those silly internet games where you try to avoid things in the air and bounce off things on the ground to get the maximum distance possible. And how do I fill up at work to get home? Would I need a tank of the aforementioned hydrogen peroxiede and kerosene in my cubicle? And what if I have to do most of my journy on the bus or subway? How would the police, home land security or your average joe feel about that?!

@ Oliver

Why not use a cel phone

Seen on the promotional web site:

"Marketing and promotion experts are constantly tasked with finding a way to get attention. This job has continually gotten more dificult as more companies compete for attention of customers, partners, press and other audiences - the same old gags don't work anymore and response is hard to measure. You will be undoubtedly the topic of discussion after a rocket-powered human helps carry your message through the air."

so we're discussing the limited flight duration

and I'm saying, "it's only 75 seconds. that could get nasty." to which my co-worker replies:" Depends on how fast that 75 seconds goes..."

My response: "about 75 seconds.."

now I thought of a way this could be fun-if you could add a parachute, then boost for altitiude and pop the chute back down...except this thing doesn't get enough height nor carry enough payload. It'd barely carry me when I was in shape fifteen years ago..now I'd just torch my arse trying to boost.

Just like I tell the electric car folks. Don't bother me with concepts and companies and "breakthroughs" until you can give me 100 mile range at an average speed of 70mph between charges/refills. Anything else is just a toy for people with waay too much money (usually raised by someone else to get them started or helped along) and not nearly enough brains.

whatever happened to that Mountain View company that was building the two propellor persona aircraft? Last I saw they were making "RPV's" and no more human carrying craft.

PH icon embodies the same mindset of the Tesla buyers, the enviro nazis with the old-designed SMART cars (priced at $28K and *not* the revised 08 models) and people with enough disposable income to get into the GM electric car program.

RE: Ancient tech strikes again.

Actually, the hydrogen-peroxide and kerosene mix was probably first tried in anger by the Nazis. They eventually settled for hydrogen-peroxide (T-Stoff) and a methanol-water-hydrazine (C-Stoff) mix to give more endurance for the Me.163 rocket fighters. These had an awesome climb-rate, but only eight minutes of power, after which they became just gliders. One of their big drawbacks was that excess fuel often got sloshed together upon the usual bumpy landing (it used a belly-skid to safe weight and space), often with disastrous consequences. A no less nasty drawback for the pilots was that the fuel was highly corrosive and many who survived landing crashes received acid burns to their exposed skin. Wonder what happens if you have a bumpy landing with Thunderbolt jetpack, does it all go bang?

For that weight, can't we have helicopter backpacks instead, like the ones Action Man or Dan Dare used to have?

They're hitting the ground like bags of wet cement

Was I the only one who thought of Daffy Duck and his famous "Yikes and away" and the crash that proceeded? 3/4 of mile high explosives in the hands of any nut with 100K to burn, to quote Less Nesman of WKRP "They're hitting the ground like bags of wet cement. Oh the humanity!"

I knew that this technology existed...

I also heard that only around 2 people in the world could actually pilot the things. It's supposed to be incredibly difficult. And, of course there's the idea of strapping about a hundred pounds of rocket fuel to you back and lighting it.

Same idiots, different medium

great, the people who don't know how to drive, will now be failing to fly. can't wait. on the plus side, watching one of these idiots crash into a building, a billboard, or a passing helicopter, or better yet, being attacked by a largish bird, would really brighten up my day.

i always thought it was only a matter of time, before the human race introduced its own Darwinian selection mechanisms, this time at the top of the socio-economic ladder. too bad they didn't get to Dubya before he got into power.

"i have a little list, they never will be missed." one can dream, can't one?

was initially going to go with PH icon, because penguins are too smart to mess with a hundred pounds of hazmat, and BillG and Real Steve are too old, but Mr. Jolly seemed more appropriate.

Quicker to walk

It takes about 15 mins to walk 3/4 mile, I reckon it'll take more than that to fuel the beast and don it. Then there's the small matter of what you do at the other end with the empty thing. Call up the wife to bring the car to collect it (I say wife because no woman is going to be stupid enough to waste her time actually using it).

Re: "Bob's your uncle"

The term "Bob's your uncle" is Brit and Aussie slang for "...QED", or "...and that's all there is to it", or "...and off you go, it's done." So that sentence really means, "Allow your fried lackey to quickly cut two test flights together, and that's all there is to it."

But

But what about the noise , it would probably sound like a Manchester United F.C. football crowd going both ballistic and hoarse at the same time after a 10 to 0 straight win over Arsenal F.C. match to clinch the F.A. Cup at a full house Wembley Stadium to put it mildly !

Me thinks your entire neighbourhood to retain their sanity and hearing would all issue an ABSO after just one flight !

Commute?

You'd have to drive all the way to the nearest car park and fly the Jetpack to the front door of the office given it's short range. Only really useful if there is a busy road between the car park and work...and people don't mind scortched paintwork on their cars.